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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30067557">first love, late spring</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/pilotsirens/pseuds/pilotsirens'>pilotsirens</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>SK8 the Infinity (Anime)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff, Hugs, Insecure Kyan Reki, M/M, Soft Hasegawa Langa, Soulmates, adam isn't here bc fuck this bitch, by that I mean the events are pretty much the same as the anime but also a bit different, i'm just projecting don't mind me, the tiniest bit of angst</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 18:15:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>8,612</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30067557</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/pilotsirens/pseuds/pilotsirens</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Your dreams are actually the memories of your soulmate.”</p><p>Or, a soulmate AU where Reki always dreams of snow, and he doesn’t understand why the new transfer student feels so familiar.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hasegawa Langa/Kyan Reki</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>594</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>first love, late spring</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>based off a prompt I saw somewhere, i love these two so much I had to write about them</p><p>this is a gift for a friend ehe I hope they're gonna like it ♡ the title is from a mitski song but the lyrics have nothing to do with it,, I just listened to it on repeat while writing this lol</p><p>i apologize for the eventual mistakes,, i re-read it a few times but maybe i missed some (also i don't know anything about skateboard and I had to google everything)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Reki’s dreams are always covered in snow.</p><p>Sometimes he finds himself at the top of a mountain, the landscape stretching before him, breathing the fresh air of the morning and shielding his eyes from the blinding sun. The silence is deafening, as if the snow absorbed every noise. It’s relaxing. When he’s up here, it’s like the whole world belongs to him. Every breath he takes fills his lungs with cold hair and determination.</p><p>Sometimes he’s in a street, throwing snowballs at other people, but the outlines of the silhouettes are blurry, and he’s never able to make out their faces. He seems to have fun though, if the laugh escaping his lips is something to go by.</p><p>Sometimes he’s with an older man and they’re holding snowboards while walking together on a mountain path and chatting. The echoes of the voice are distant, so he has no idea what they’re talking about, but he’s feeling eager and impatient.</p><p>And, of course, there’s the snowboard itself. It’s incredibly freeing, sliding on snow so easily. Dreams about snowboarding are always the most palpable for Reki. The sensations are so vivid in his mind he almost believes it’s real sometimes. He can taste the snowflakes when he sticks his tongue out, feels the cold wind rushes past him and messes with the strands of hair that he didn’t manage to fit into a beanie.</p><p>More than anything, he can feel his heart beat faster with excitement, the sound a familiar presence when everything else is quiet.</p><p>In these moments, he’s sure of one thing like he’s never been sure of anything in his life before: he wants to spend the rest of his life like this, sliding down a snowy slope, to make sure the feeling of euphoria never leaves him. He’s addicted to the rush of adrenaline, to the exhilarating freedom it brings him.</p><p>In the morning, he wakes up shivering, his heart filled with the longing of a place he never went to. The feeling lingers for a while before dying down, and soon after he starts to forget the details of the dream, until it becomes nothing but a vague memory. He remembers endless fields covered in snow, the thrill of the descent, but everything else fades away slowly.</p><p>It’s not unusual to have strange dreams. A brain is a complex thing, and it works in mysterious ways. But Reki knows it’s not the case here: those dreams are not made up fantasies his mind conjured up, they’re actual memories, his soulmate’s memories. That’s how it works: every night, your dreams are composed of little snippets of your soulmate’s life.</p><p>When he was younger, he didn’t really pay attention to them. The dreams started around six years old, and he didn’t realize it immediately, as they were memories of a child just like him, confused and so similar to his own emotions it was impossible to tell them apart.</p><p><br/>
He was so young he couldn’t quite grasp the idea of what a soulmate was. His mother explained to him that somewhere in the world there was someone meant for him, that the universe had put them together, and that in order to find each other more easily their lives were intertwined in their dreams.</p><p>Reki had nodded, and forgotten about it the next day. At this age, there are things way more interesting than thinking about someone that you never met and that you don’t know anything about. Besides, the dreams were just fuzzy white memories, barely recognizable.</p><p>So he just grows up with the idea of someone waiting for him somewhere, a certainty that's always at the back of his mind, but not something he actively thinks about.</p><p>The soulmate system isn’t foolproof. His parents are the evidence of that: his father left when he was young, and his mother brought up all of their kids by herself. Love isn’t easy, even between two people supposedly meant for each other. And sometimes a relationship between soulmates is strictly platonic: a soulmate isn’t necessarily someone you have to fall in love with. That way, people on the aromantic spectrum aren’t missing on some big thing everyone is a part of.</p><p>To help people find their soulmates, teachers regularly encouraged the students to share the dreams they had. Not the ones containing private information, of course, but basic memories that would maybe ring a bell to someone : a day at the beach with a dragon kite, an handmade mummy Halloween costume, a white dog running on a cobbled street. It was unlikely that kids would find their soulmates at such a young age, but it couldn’t hurt to try, and sometimes miracles happened.</p><p>When he was in 5th grade, a girl in Reki’s class described an attic filled with old treasures who had belong to someone’s grandmother, and when she started to talk about a specific painting of two skaters on a frozen lake, another girl raised her hand and said that she had in fact been to such an attic when playing at her neighbour’s house.</p><p>Reki started to take interest in the whole soulmate thing when he entered middle school. He experienced crushes for the first time in his life, and thought that maybe love wasn’t such a stupid idea. But it was around the same time that he realized he would probably have to give up the idea of finding his soulmate before even having the chance to try.</p><p>He’d never given much thought about the dreams he had, but with the strange looks he received when he described them, he started to realize how odd they were.</p><p>Reki’s dreams were always covered in snow. But here in Okinawa, snow hadn’t fallen in years. Which meant that wherever his soulmate was, they didn’t live here.</p><p>The realization made his heart clench. And it was worse than that: it was not only a matter of living in Okinawa, but a bigger problem. Around him, people talked about places in Japan where their soulmates had been, famous locations they’d visited.</p><p>Reki tried to think about it, but he could not remember a single familiar landscape in all of the dreams he’d had. Even the houses in his soulmate’s memories were not traditional Japanese houses, which could only mean one thing: his soulmate was in another country. And the chance of meeting them was reduced to a very small percentage.</p><p>See, the dream system gave you keys to find the one meant for you, but it was not guaranteed that you would ever find them. Some people looked for them their whole life, in vain. The world was a vast place.</p><p>There were several solutions for the ones who couldn’t find anyone: countless websites existed, where people described their dreams in detail and you could search up specific keywords to try and find some that could apply to your memories, but not everyone used these. You could try to identify a town or a country thanks to the dreams, but once again, it didn’t always work, because sometimes the details were too blurry.</p><p>If Reki’s soulmate lived in a country with mountains and snow, the possibilities were numerous. It would be like looking for a needle in a haystack, and he was too young and too poor to travel the world for the moment. So he resigned himself to the idea of living without them for now, and even possibly forever (but he tried not to think about that too much. He still had a bit of hope, even if it dwindled more and more every passing year).</p><p>The more he grew up, the more it hurt to see others around him finding the one meant for them and being left alone, with no idea where his soulmate could possibly live. It’s not like he’s unhappy, not at all: he has his mother and his sisters, a few friends from school, and above everything, there’s skating.</p><p>He is so passionate about it he talks about it to everyone he meets in hopes of finding someone who shares the same enthusiasm. But no one is really interested in what he has to say. When sometimes they ask about his skate doodles in class, they quickly backtrack when they realize how much Reki is invested in this, not ready to hear him talk about it for hours. He has a few friends who hang out with him at the skatepark, but it’s more because it’s a cool place to be than to practice.</p><p>But his love for skating is so huge, it doesn’t really matter if no one matches his enthusiasm. He’s perfectly fine by himself, working at the skate shop, creating and building new skate designs, caught up in his own little world.</p><p>It’s just that... Sometimes, after a long and tiring day, the loneliness becomes too much to bear. He feels pathetically, excruciatingly alone, and not even skateboarding is enough to lift his spirits up. In moments like this, he usually buries himself in a blanket on his bed, music blasting in his ears to drown the thoughts, and he wonders what it would be like to know his soulmate, someone who could comfort him when he needs it.</p><p>He wants to know what it feels like to be loved unconditionally. His friends are great, but they aren’t that close. He tags along with them to eat at school, and they hang out from time to time, but that’s all. And everyone loves him at school, he’s fun to be around and pretty popular since he goes along with most of the students. But he’s never had a special someone. He never had a best friend of anything of the sort.</p><p>As much as he loves his life as it is, he’s aching for something more.</p><p> </p><p>______________________________</p><p> </p><p>The first time Reki sees Langa, it’s eight thirty in the morning and he’s ready to spend the next five hours dozing at the back of the class. He’s so tired he can barely keep his eyes open. Last night there was a particularly interesting race at <em>S</em>, and he may or may have not stayed longer than intended. But who can blame him? It’s not every day Cherry and Joe, the legendary skaters, race against each other.</p><p>And then someone wanted to race against him, he was too excited to refuse, and long story short, he got like four hours of sleep. Not close enough to what his seventeen-year-old body requires to function properly.</p><p>So he plans on sleeping through his morning classes, like he always does when he’s too tired. It’s not like it’s going to have an enormous impact on his school life anyway: he does the bare minimum in class, and he always manages to get good grades. Besides, there’s no way he’s going to be able to focus enough in class today to understand something, so he might as well do something useful and get his sleep back.</p><p>He’s waiting for the teacher to start the lesson, but he’s sitting at his desk in silence, throwing regular glances at the door like he’s expecting someone any minute. That’s strange, because everyone’s here. There’s a seat left at Reki’s right, but it’s been empty ever since Itami moved to another school. Who could he be waiting for?</p><p>He doesn’t have to wait long to know: a few minutes later someone knocks, and then right after a boy his age enters the classroom, followed by the headmistress.</p><p><em>He’s so pretty</em> is the first thing that comes to Reki’s mind as the students stand up to bow. The headmistress says a few words to their teacher before leaving, and Reki sits back, still entranced by the newcomer’s beauty. There’s something ethereal about him, like he’s not quite human, but a divine being who decided to grace mere mortals with his presence. Reki’s never seen someone so beautiful.</p><p>His light blue hair grows past his ears, matching his blue eyes, and he looks indifferent to what’s happening around him, as if he has no idea of the effect he has on people. Reki’s positive that everyone in the class just fell in love with him. Heck, Reki himself can’t get his eyes off him. For a moment, he even forgets about his urge to sleep.</p><p>“Can you, uh, introduce yourself?” asks the teacher, after a few seconds of silence.</p><p>The student raises his eyebrows, like he didn’t know he was supposed to speak. “I’m Hasegawa Langa.”</p><p>No one reacts, and the silence is starting to be a bit uncomfortable, although he doesn't really look embarrassed.</p><p>“Don’t you have… Anything else to say?”</p><p>Langa turns to the teacher, frowning, but he complies anyway. “I’m from Canada.”</p><p>When it becomes clear that he’s not going to add anything, the teacher sighs and indicates the seat next to Reki. “You can sit here. Okay, everyone, let’s resume where we left off yesterday.”</p><p>He doesn’t even look at Reki when he sits down, the same emotionless expression on his face. Reki has half a mind to talk to him, but he doesn’t look like he wants to engage in any kind of conversation, and Reki doesn’t want to make him uncomfortable, so he just stares at him for a bit too long before putting his arms on the table and resting his head on it. In a few minutes he’s asleep.</p><p>________________________________</p><p>“What’s his name again?”</p><p>“Hasegawa.. Hasegawa Langa.”</p><p>“Mmmh… The name doesn’t ring a bell. You say his mother is from here?”</p><p>Reki hums. “She grew up here, and then she went to Canada and met her husband here. Langa’s never been to Japan before, he’s lived his whole life in Canada. I don’t know much about him.”</p><p>He’s working at Dope Sketch like almost every day after school. Right now he’s busy unpacking kneepads and elbow pads from the box he just cut open, putting them on the shelves and making sure they’re displayed neatly. Usually the radio is blasting whatever music his boss is into at the moment, but Reki started talking about the new exchange student and he lowered the volume to listen to him.</p><p>Reki doesn’t know why he still thinks about him. Maybe because it was the only interesting thing that happened in his life today. School was boring as usual, and the arrival of the new exchange student was the only highlight of his day. It also may be due to the fact that Reki is a total bi disaster and every time he sees someone pretty he has the urgent need to talk about it. And now he’s ranting about Langa to his boss, who looks like he wants to be anywhere else but here. Too bad they’re stuck together for the whole evening.</p><p>“Doesn’t he have trouble speaking Japanese?”</p><p>“Nah,” says Reki, getting up to grab another box of protection equipment. “His mother speaks Japanese so he’s doing pretty well. At least I think so, it’s not like I heard him talk a lot.”</p><p>“Not the talkative type, uh?”</p><p>He shrugs. “I haven’t heard him speak all day.”</p><p>“And you still managed to get a crush on him? Wow. I didn’t think you only cared about looks, Reki.”</p><p>He almost drops the box he’s holding, his cheeks getting hotter. “It’s not like that!” he protests vehemently.</p><p>And it’s true. It’s not like that. Sure, Langa’s attractive, but as much as Reki likes pretty people, there’s something more behind his sudden obsession with him. He’s drawn to Langa in a way he’s never felt before. He looks and sounds familiar, like he’s met him before but he cannot remember when or where.</p><p>That’s impossible and he knows it. Langa’s never been to Japan before, and Reki’s never been outside of Japan. Maybe he just reminds him of someone he knows. Or maybe his boss is right and he’s just crushing on him? It’s true that he has a tendency to develop crushes quickly, even though none of them ever went further than him pining from afar. But he’s sure there’s something else, something he doesn’t understand yet.</p><p>“Yeah, sure. Then why have you been talking about him for the past hour?”</p><p>Reki opens his mouth in mock offense, putting a hand to his chest like he’s been physically hurt. “You know what? I’m not talking anymore.”</p><p>“Fine by me.”</p><p>He does stop talking about Langa after that, busy putting in order skate equipment. He doesn’t stop thinking about him though.</p><p> </p><p>__________________________________</p><p> </p><p>When he wakes up the next morning, he can’t remember what his dreams were about, but there’s a weight on his chest and he feels weird, like he’s missing something. It’s not the first time he’s felt like this when waking up, but it has never been so strong. He decides that he doesn’t like it.</p><p>He spends the whole morning in a weird mood, confused by whatever his dream was about and not knowing how to get rid of the unnerving sensation. The only thing lifting his spirits up is the fact that tonight he’s going to <em>S</em> again, and he can’t wait. Also he doesn’t have school this afternoon, meaning he’s free to practice skateboarding until his shift at Dope Sketch. He’s excited at this idea because there’s a trick he’s been trying to master for weeks, and he’s eager to try it again. Skating is one of the only things for which he gives his all. It’s so rewarding to work for months and to finally manage to get the hang of a particularly difficult figure, it makes him proud of himself.</p><p>He’s so impatient to skate he can’t pay attention to what the teacher is saying. It’s just a background noise as he doodles in the margins of his sheets again, drawings of skate designs and cool skaters. He knows he should probably try to listen to the lesson, but he can’t help it: his mind is bubbling with new ideas, and when he’s like this he can’t focus on anything else. He’s been working on a new board at home lately and he’s still thinking about how to make it more efficient.</p><p>What he doesn’t expect is the teacher to call out his name suddenly, startling him and making him drop his pen.</p><p>“Reki, since you seem so invested in what I’m saying, could you tell me the past participle of the verb flee?”</p><p>Maybe he should have paid attention after all. He answers hesitantly and ends up getting the wrong answer, causing the teacher to sigh and ask someone else who answers correctly. He’s a bit ashamed to have been caught daydreaming, so for the rest of the lesson he listens attentively.</p><p>When it’s finally over, he’s packing his things when someone taps gently on his shoulder. He raises his head, surprised. He expects to see the teacher, ready to lecture him about his inattention in class, but no. It’s Langa, handing him a pen, and oh god he is even prettier up close.</p><p>“I think you dropped this,” he says, and in any other circumstances Reki would’ve laughed at how this looks like a scene from a cliché romance movie, but Langa doesn’t seem particularly interested in him, nor the type to flirt. He’s just giving him back his pen.</p><p>“Oh, thanks! I forgot about it.”</p><p>Reki is about to close his notebook when he notices that Langa hasn’t moved yet. In fact, he’s looking at Reki’s skate doodles, his head slightly tilted. Reki feels a burst of excitement rush through him. He’s so in need of someone to share his passion with, anyone who seems remotely interested in skating is enough to catch his attention.</p><p>“Oh my god, you like skating?” he asks before he can stop himself, the enthusiasm obvious in his voice.</p><p>Langa looks taken aback by his sudden outburst, and Reki hopes he hasn’t scared him or anything. He knows he can be a lot when he talks about something he loves, and the last thing he wants is for Langa to walk away and think he’s weird. He doesn’t know why, but he wants Langa to appreciate him, to stay with him here a little longer. The thought is unsettling. He didn’t think he was that desperate for a friend. But there’s something about Langa that makes him want to get to know him better, at least to discover why he feels so familiar.</p><p>“Oh, uh. I don’t know? I never really tried before,” he answers, his voice calm and low.</p><p>At least he didn’t say no. Reki takes this as an invitation to keep talking. “Do you want to come with me this afternoon? I’m going to practice some tricks, I could teach you the basics!”</p><p>He looks expectantly at Langa, thrilled at the idea of finally having someone to skate with him. The blue-haired boy only shrugs noncommittally. But it’s not enough to dip into Reki’s eagerness. “Awesome! C’mon, let’s grab something to eat and then we’ll head to the skatepark!”</p><p>Langa follows him, and together they start walking, Reki filling the silence between them with skateboarding facts and tips. He explains that he builds his own boards, that <em>S</em> is the most awesome race you can witness, that he started skateboarding because a friend dragged him into it when he was young, and he punctuates each of his sentences with lively gestures.</p><p>Langa only nods from time to time, the same emotionless expression on his face, but at least he doesn’t look like this is the most excruciating thing he’s ever been through. That's progress in Reki’s history of sharing his passion: he’s used to the disinterest on people’s faces, and can feel it when they want to escape his ramblings. But Langa is listening to him, even if he doesn’t react a lot. It warms his heart. It’s a bit pathetic when you think about it, to rejoice over something so basic. But he’s so used to annoying people that he’ll take it anyway.</p><p>The thing about Reki is, he loves meeting new people. He’s always eager to talk, to share his thoughts with someone, to let them enter the world he lives in and allow them to discover what he cares about the most. He entrusts them with the things he likes, and hopes they won’t crush this trust by staying indifferent.</p><p>When they all end up saying they’re not interested, he can’t help but be a little disheartened. It’s like pouring your heart into a project only to end up with a bad grade.</p><p>But with Langa, it’s different. Langa doesn’t make him feel like he’s annoying. He doesn’t have to restrain himself, because he feels like whatever he’s going to say, the blue-haired boy will listen anyway.</p><p>It’s a refreshing feeling, and Reki’s enthusiasm is multiplied by ten. He doesn’t stop talking during the whole walk.</p><p>“This is where I come to practice!” he explains once they’ve reached the skate park.</p><p>It’s about one pm so a few people are having lunch at the top of the half-pipe, but they barely pay attention to them as they make their way to the funbox to sit. No one’s skateboarding at the moment, so they won’t disturb anyone.</p><p>Langa gets a sandwich out of his bag, and Reki takes out the bentō his mom made him this morning.</p><p>“Do you have any questions?” he asks excitedly, because he figures that after talking so much maybe Langa didn’t understand everything.</p><p>But he only points at his bentō, curious. “This is a traditional Japanese lunch?”</p><p>“Uh? You’re interested in what I’m eating?” This isn’t the kind of questions he was expecting. “I mean, yes, but who cares about my lunch?”</p><p>Langa shrugs and Reki sighs. Ok, maybe he can understand his curiosity. After all, he would lie if he said he wasn’t himself interested in Langa’s life in Canada. It’s exciting, coming from another country!</p><p>“What do you eat in Canada?”</p><p>“Poutine.”</p><p>“Can you speak Canadian?”</p><p>Langa frowns. “Uh… <em>Sorry</em>?”</p><p>“Cool! You can help me with my English homework!”</p><p>“I mean… Yeah, sure?”</p><p>Despite Langa’s placidity, the conversation flows surprisingly easily. Granted, Reki is doing more than half of the talking, but he doesn’t feel like he’s making Langa uncomfortable in any way. He’s always afraid of overstepping and pushing more introverted people out of their comfort zone by talking too much, but he doesn’t have this impression with Langa. For once, he feels like he can be totally himself.</p><p>They end up spending the whole afternoon together, Reki teaching Langa the basics of skateboarding patiently. Langa appears to be really bad at it, falling every time he gets his foot in the board, and Reki’s laugh fills the air more than once, earnest and unabashed.</p><p>When Langa decides he’s made a fool of himself enough times, Reki takes back his board, excited to show what he’s able to do. After a few tricks, he stops to look at Langa, very proud of the way the blue-haired boy seems so impressed. It’s one thing to skate by himself, but it’s another one having someone watching him, especially when this someone acts like Reki hung the stars in the sky.</p><p>He’s always loved the feeling of being up in the air when performing a trick, but he’s pretty sure the fluttering of his heart right now has more to do with the admiration in Langa’s eyes than the adrenaline he gets from skateboarding. He’s ridiculously happy.</p><p>Langa has to leave eventually because he has a job interview, but the feeling of warmth in Reki’s chest doesn’t disappear until later that night.</p><p> </p><p>__________________________________</p><p> </p><p>After this afternoon, they start to spend more and more time together.</p><p>They sit next to each other at school, they eat together at lunch, and when they’re not in class they’re practicing skateboarding or hanging out in Reki’s room. They became used to each other’s company so fast it’s almost scary. They’re different, even total opposites, but for some reason they fit together.</p><p>Reki’s never had someone like this in his life, a constant presence beside him. It’s a nice change. He can talk about skateboarding 24/7, and Langa’s actually interested in what he has to say. They haven’t known each other for long but it feels like they’ve been friends for years.</p><p>And then, three weeks after their first encounter, Reki suggests they go to the infamous underground skate race <em>S</em>. He’s been talking about it to Langa almost every day, but they never had the occasion to actually go. It’s not that easy for a beginner to enter, and Reki may be a regular, but that doesn’t mean he has the power to bring perfect strangers with him.</p><p>He asks his boss if Langa can tag along with him for a delivery, and after several minutes of negotiations he accepts. Even better, he agrees to pay Langa, since he’s still looking for a job and no one else is willing to hire a minor.</p><p>Reki’s ecstatic, even more than usual. He doesn’t shut up during the whole ride to the mountains. As always, the road is crowded with skaters of all ages, mingling together and whispering excitedly to each other. They’re a bit late, and once they arrive there’s already a good number of people here.</p><p>Langa is intrigued by the event, even if probably no one but Reki could tell by looking at him. To anyone else, he must seem indifferent, even bored. But in the short time they’ve known each other, Reki has learned to decipher Langa’s expressions. He notices the way his eyes widen slightly, how his lips part a little, the faint blush on his cheeks. He’s nowhere near as expressive as Reki, but for anyone who knows him well enough he can be read like an open book. Reki takes pride in little details like that, feels a sense of satisfaction knowing that he’s able to decrypt him.</p><p>“Finally, you’re here!” groans a man once he sees Reki holding the skateboard wrapped up in a protection case. He apologises profusely for the delay, and the man seems to relax once he gets his hands on the board.</p><p>“What the… This isn’t my board!”</p><p>Reki freezes, his eyes fixed on the board the man just got out of the case. Shit. He was so afraid of arriving late, he didn’t pay attention to the board he chose, and accidentally grabbed an old one, one he had planned to fix soon. “I- Sorry, I’ll go immediately find the right one,I-”</p><p>“Too bad, because the race is about to start!” mocks a voice behind him, and he knows too well who this is. Shadow. The infamous skater who uses the dirtiest tricks to win races.</p><p>Reki had a beef against him once and his wrist got badly injured. The bitterness of defeat is still vibrant in his mind, and he swore that one day he’d take his revenge on him.</p><p>“Shadow!” he exclaims, taking a step back instinctively.</p><p>“I can’t race with this!” whines the man. “You have to take my place!”</p><p>“Me? But I can’t-”</p><p>“I’ll skate,” cuts off Langa.</p><p>They all turn to him. He’s on the ground, busy taping up his feet to the board.</p><p>“What the… Man, what are you doing?” sighs Reki. “You can’t skate like that. Also, where did you get tape?”</p><p>“I’ll skate,” repeats Langa, and Reki’s about to tell him how stupid this is when Cherry Blossom himself steps in.</p><p>“Let him race.”</p><p>The crowd becomes confused, and whispers die down slowly as everyone turns to watch what’s happening. Reki can’t believe it. It’s not every day Cherry attends <em>S</em>, but it’s even more rare to hear him talk to someone who isn’t Joe (well, talk is not the right term. “Bicker” would be more appropriate.) He’s impressive, with his lean and athletic body, his piercing yellow eyes and the IA he always carries with him. Reki swallows. He would like to tell Cherry that Langa’s just a beginner, but it seems like the decision has been taken and he doesn’t have a say in the matter.</p><p>So he watches Langa get ready to race next to Shadow, and he starts praying that nothing bad happens to him.</p><p>“Come with me, we’ll go to the old factory to see the end of the race,” says Cherry behind him, making shiver run down his spine. He’s too petrified with fear and admiration to refuse.</p><p>Reki has no idea what’s happening during the time he’s on Cherry’s motorbike, and when they arrive he hurries to the screen to see how Langa is doing. What he sees makes him choke on his spit.</p><p>Langa’s actually doing pretty well for someone who’d never been on a skate three weeks ago. But right now, he’s about to jump off a very high ramp.</p><p>Reki’s heart is beating faster than ever, and he wants to scream at Langa to be careful, because the fear of him getting hurt makes the blood in his veins freeze.</p><p>But he can’t do anything to help him and Langa’s jumping off the ramp now, and he’s going to get hurt, and there’s no way he’ll manage to land safely and—</p><p>And then suddenly the setting changes, as if Reki’s been thrown into a totally different reality. It’s like someone pressed pause. Delicate snowflakes are dancing around him, fluttering in the breeze before landing softly in the palms of his hands. It’s snowing in Okinawa. It’s snowing, and he’s overwhelmed with an indescribable feeling of comfort, like someone just wrapped a blanket around him before hugging him.</p><p>For a second, he forgets that Langa’s risking his life and that he’s in the middle of a boisterous crowd. For a second, he’s back on top of the mountain, surrounded by snow as far as his eyes can see. The memory is so familiar it makes him shiver. His whole body is filled with a feeling of nostalgia of something he’s never experienced.</p><p>That’s when it hits him. He’s seen this before. He experienced it himself. He’s been at Langa’s place a hundred times in his dreams, jumping in the air, feeling the cold air on his cheeks and the rush of excitement that comes with sliding down a slope at high speed.</p><p>He’s seen it in his dreams, because Langa is his soulmate.</p><p>__________________________________</p><p>The realization makes him feel so stupid. Yeah, no doubt Langa felt familiar from the start, and no doubt they hit it off so quickly. They’re literally meant to be.</p><p>He should’ve seen it sooner. Langa is from Canada, a country with snow and mountains. He could’ve at least considered the possibility. But no, it never occurred to him that maybe the new transfer student who fascinated him and felt so familiar was his soulmate. He feels so, so dumb.</p><p>But now is not the time to dwell on his stupidity, because Langa just won his first race against a talented opponent and Reki kinda wants to yell at him almost as much as he wants to congratulate him.</p><p>“Langa!” he screams once the blue-haired boy is safe and sound with both feet on the ground. “Langa!”</p><p>He makes his way through the crowd, where everyone is whispering with incredulity at how this unconventional skater managed to beat someone like Shadow. He pushes them without listening, because at the moment he doesn’t care about S.</p><p>Reki feels like his heart is going to explode with emotion. He’s overwhelmed with joy and relief and gratitude, too many to be contained in his body. He wants to scream to the world how happy he is, wants them to understand the miracle that happened tonight.</p><p>He’s euphoric, because there it is. His soulmate. After all these years thinking he was going to spend the rest of his life alone, he has a soulmate, and it’s Langa of all people, the one who became his friend in such a quick time, the boy who entered his life and carved a space for himself so easily in Reki’s heart that it’s like he’s always been there.</p><p>He’s so excited to tell him, he’s about to call his name once again when another realization hits him and he freezes on the spot.</p><p>Why didn’t Langa say anything? Reki didn’t know about the snowboard, he couldn’t possibly guess that it was him since Langa didn’t share much about his life. But Reki is not exactly subtle, and in the span of two weeks he told Langa pretty much everything there is to know about him. On top of that Langa must’ve seen memories of him on a skate in his dreams… So why didn’t it hit him?</p><p>His heart clenches in his chest. Maybe - maybe he didn’t say anything because he didn’t want to have Reki as a soulmate. Maybe he realized it, but decided that he deserved better.</p><p>He tries not to think about it too much, but the thought is spreading like a poison in his mind. <em>You’re stupid</em>, he thinks. Langa must like him at least a little, otherwise why would he spend all of his time with him? <em>Maybe he just feels like he has to, whispers the voice in his head, because you won’t leave him alone with your skateboarding things. Maybe he would like to have another friend, but he can’t because you’re always sticking to him like a leech. Maybe he would like someone prettier, someone better, someone who’s not a dumbass and a complete mess like you, way too loud and clingy.</em></p><p>He shoves the thoughts away. This is not the time to start doubting himself and their friendship. Langa won an important race, and Reki wants to be the first one to congratulate him. Soulmates or not, he wants to tell him how proud he is.</p><p>“Langa!” He finally reaches his friend. “What was that?”</p><p>Langa is looking at him with his eyes widened in surprise, like he doesn’t quite know how he did it himself. Reki throws his arms around him, hugging him tightly before releasing him. “That was amazing!”</p><p>“Reki, I-” He blinks a few times, like he just got out of a dream. Reki doesn’t give him the time to express himself. He turns to see the board he built himself, and starts to rant about how great it worked and what kind of features he could add to make it even more efficient.</p><p>He rambles even more than usual, because this way he doesn’t have to think about the fact that Langa is his soulmate and that he didn’t tell him.</p><p>__________________________________</p><p> </p><p>It appears that snowboarding since the age of two is helpful when it comes to skating. Of course, Langa doesn’t suddenly become some sort of genius skater, but he won against Shadow and that’s something. Reki won’t shut up about it. He’s so proud of Langa, and it’s not even because he’s the one who taught him everything. He’s just genuinely, sincerely happy to see that his friend managed to win.</p><p>They go to <em>S</em> almost every night now, which means that Reki’s not the only one with a fucked up sleep schedule anymore. In addition to that, Langa has been officially hired at the shop, so that means they get to spend even more time together. Not that Reki’s complaining. In fact, he feels like he’s never been so happy in his life. He has someone beside him like he always wanted. And he could not wish for someone better: he adores Langa with his whole heart.</p><p>But there’s still one thing that doesn’t feel right. The whole soulmate thing. He hasn’t brought it up yet, he’s not sure why.</p><p>It’s not that he thinks Langa would react badly. Sure, he can be clueless at times, and his difficulties to express his emotions can lead to misunderstandings, but he’s not inherently mean. It’s not like he would hurt Reki on purpose.</p><p>Still, there’s a part of Reki that’s afraid: afraid of not being enough, afraid of Langa wanting someone else, afraid of their feelings not being the same. Because it’s more than telling him they’re soulmates. He knows soulmates are not always romantic, but the majority of them are. And Reki tried hard not to fall for Langa, but he knows it’s too late.</p><p>He realizes it one day when they’re both at the skatepark and the sun is setting. It paints the sky with a palette of warm colors, a gradation of tender oranges, yellows and reds. Langa just managed to do his first ollie, and Reki’s chest is bursting with pride and admiration.</p><p>“It took me two months! You’re amazing, Langa!”</p><p>Langa is still on the ground where he fell, looking a bit disorientated. He’s so pretty like this, bathed in sunlight, like a boy from a Renaissance painting. The thought crosses Reki’s mind that he would like to have a canvas with him right now to immortalize the moment, although he’s sure he would never be able to perfectly recreate the atmosphere of the scene. Strands of pale blue hair are falling in his face, and in his eyes there’s an emotion that he can’t quite place while he looks at him. It’s beautiful. He’s beautiful.</p><p>He holds his hand up to high five him, smiling widely. Langa tentatively reaches to meet his hand, and instead of the high five they were going for, their fingers interlock gently, like driven by a will of their own. None of them say anything, their eyes widening in unison. Langa’s skin is soft to the touch, a bit sensitive because it just scraped the pavement. Reki’s not breathing anymore. He doesn’t dare to, as if it would somehow break the moment.</p><p>It’s when he knows. No matter who his soulmate is, if it isn’t Langa, he doesn’t want them. His heart is already taken. He didn’t expect it, it happened so naturally. Before he could realize he’d fallen for the quiet Canadian boy with the soft smile.</p><p>Langa is all pale colors and ice blue, but the feelings he sparks in Reki’s chest are as warm and vibrant as the sunset behind them.<br/>
__________________________________</p><p>Langa gets his first love confession from a girl a year younger than them on Valentine’s day.</p><p>As it appears, it’s not really his first confession. At lunch break, after politely rejecting the girl and between two mouthfuls of his sandwich, he informs Reki that in Canada girls confessed to him all the time (while having the most disinterested expression on his face).</p><p>Reki feels a pinch at his heart. Of course Langa is popular with girls. Why wouldn’t he? He’s pretty, he’s a good listener, he’s hard-working and caring. It makes sense that everyone would have a crush on him. Reki sure knows how easy it is to fall for Langa. But it’s not like he needs it: he can have whoever he wants, so why would he choose Reki?</p><p>“I’ve never received chocolates on Valentine’s day,” he pouts, because there’s no use in wallowing in self-pity. He can get over his attraction for Langa. He just has to think about something else, and it will fade away. Or at least he hopes so.</p><p>“If you want chocolate, I can buy them for you,” says Langa.</p><p>Reki’s heart misses a beat. He raises his head, but Langa’s busy removing a leaf of lettuce from his sandwich, indifferent to what’s happening around him. He just said it because he’s nice. It doesn’t mean anything.</p><p>“That’s not how it works,” Reki laughs. “On Valentine’s day, the girl offers chocolates to a guy she likes.”</p><p>This gets Langa’s attention, and he looks at Reki, frowning. “But I like you. So I would be doing it right, no?”</p><p>Sometimes, Langa being clueless about feelings is endearing. Sometimes, like now, it makes Reki a bit sad. He would love to hear those words, but not in this context. Not when he knows Langa doesn’t mean it in the way he would like him to.</p><p>“Not “like” in a friends way,” he explains, and he wishes his heart wouldn’t feel so heavy as he tries to find the right words.“Like” in a romantic way.”</p><p>Langa is frowning even more, visibly confused. Reki does not have it in him to explain the difference between the two. That’s a talk for another day.</p><p>“Anyway, why did you reject this girl? She was cute.”</p><p>He doesn’t seem bothered by the sudden change of subject. “She’s not my type, I guess. I don’t feel anything special when I look at her.”</p><p>He wonders what his type is if this girl wasn’t to his liking.</p><p>“Dude, that’s harsh. I hope you didn’t tell her that.”</p><p>Langa shrugs. “She said that it didn’t matter, because she was looking for her soulmate and obviously it wasn’t me.”</p><p>Reki freezes at the mention of soulmates. He tried to forget about it as much as he could, but he knew he would have to face it eventually. Especially around Valentine’s day, thinking about it is kinda inevitable. Soulmates are pretty much a hot topic at this date.</p><p>Maybe now is a good time to ask Langa.</p><p>“Yeah… About that. Did you find yours?” he asks, trying to look as detached as possible.</p><p>He’s scanning Langa’s face, looking for any sign that he might in fact know who his soulmate is. Langa shakes his head.</p><p>“Not yet. You?”</p><p><em>It’s you, but I’m afraid I might not be enough so I don’t want to tell you because I don’t want you to be disappointed.</em> “I don’t think so.”</p><p>Silence falls between them after that. They’re the only students on the roof at this hour, because everyone else already finished eating and left. It’s nice that it’s just the two of them. Reki’s cold, so he’s snuggled against Langa’s side with his head on his shoulder. Their bodies are pressed together, and he thinks of how strange it is that he always associated Langa with snow and cold when in fact his body radiates so much heat.</p><p>He’s comfortable like this. The weird feeling from earlier has left, and for the moment he just enjoys Langa’s company without thinking about how maybe his feelings aren’t reciprocated. The sun is up in the sky, not enough to warm them up since it’s only February, but the weather being bright always puts Reki in a good mood. He starts humming a song he heard someone sing earlier, something about storms and first loves.</p><p>“What do you dream about?” he asks suddenly, because he’s curious and he wonders what his memories look like from someone else’s point of view.</p><p>He’s afraid Langa might find the question weird or too personal. In Japan, talking about soulmates is not taboo, it’s pretty much the opposite, but Reki knows that in other countries they’re not so open about it. They’ve never talked about it before, maybe that’s why it feels so intimate. After all, soulmates are literally about a bond between two souls. That’s pretty intimate.</p><p>Langa takes some time to answer. “I don’t always remember,” he starts, careful. “I know… there’s a lot of noise, like they’re surrounded by friends. They’re often outside. I remember the beach, even though I’ve never been here… They play in the water with other children, and they go on a walk with their parents. And they’re happy. That’s the main feeling I get. In every dream I have, when I wake up, my heart beats faster and I feel better. It’s like they spread happiness and love around them.”</p><p>“Oh. They sound like a great soulmate.”</p><p>“I’m sure they are.”</p><p>Langa has a fond look on his face as he turns to Reki, and Reki’s breath catches in his throat. He can’t believe it. Is this real? Could it be that those memories are his, and that they make Langa happy? Could it be that <em>he</em> makes Langa happy?</p><p>He knows people tend to like him, because he gets along with everyone and he has a bubbly, extroverted personality. But it never goes beyond that. No one ever confessed their love to him, and if he got a lot of crushes, they were never reciprocated. He’s a good friend, but never the crush of someone. No one has ever thought of him with this face, a face so soft and full of love he could cry because he doesn’t deserve to be loved so much.</p><p>He’s afraid that if he tells Langa it’s him, he’ll change his mind about his soulmate and stop looking so fond. But more than anything, he’s terrified of Langa leaving him, and he’s scared that if he confesses, their friendship will become weird. He thinks of his parents, how being soulmates doesn’t always mean a happy ending. It could go wrong.</p><p>But he thinks of all the time he spends with Langa. The morning when they go to school together. The lunch breaks that they spend on the rooftop, in their own little bubble. The afternoons when they go to the skatepark to practice. The evenings when they go to S. The nights when they fall asleep in Reki’s bed together because they spent too much time watching skateboarding videos and Langa’s too tired to go home.</p><p>He thinks about how Langa looks at him with admiration when he does a trick perfectly, how he smiles when they meet up in the morning, how he leans into Reki’s touches and hugs even though he’s not a tactile kind of person.</p><p>Langa’s a constant presence in his life now, and he’s his soulmate, and Reki’s in love with him. And maybe it’s mutual. Reki’s willing to try.</p><p>“Langa… Earlier you said you liked me. Was it like… In a platonic way, or…? I mean, because it’s okay if it was, but also I… I’m not… I mean I think I like you… But not as a friend. It’s different.”</p><p>Reki cringes at his own words. He doesn’t usually have trouble expressing himself, but apparently when it comes to feelings it’s not that easy to put words on what he wants to say.</p><p>Langa doesn’t say anything, and he’s too afraid to look at him. Maybe this was a bad idea after all.</p><p>When he finally speaks after an excruciatingly long moment, his voice is soft.</p><p>“Reki. Look at me.”</p><p>Reki takes a deep breath and looks at Langa. His heart gives a little squeeze in his chest when he meets his eyes, beautiful, pale blue eyes, a mirror of Langa’s emotions. And right now the only emotion he can find in them is a deep fondness. It makes his heart ache in a good way. In the best way possible.</p><p>“I think I still have trouble telling apart romantic and platonic feelings. But the feelings I get when I’m with you…” He puts a hand on his heart, smiling. “I don’t get them with anyone else.”</p><p>Reki is too stunned to speak. His heart beats so fast he’s sure Langa is able to hear it. He doesn’t care. Nothing matters except Langa’s perfect blue eyes and the look on his face, soft and tender to the point Reki’s whole body feels warm. It’s the same feeling he got when he watched Langa jump off that ramp: like a blanket has been wrapped around him.</p><p>“I want to stay with you as long as possible,” Langa adds after a few seconds. “I mean, if you’d let me.”</p><p>Reki finally finds back his voice, and he lets out a chuckle. “Of course I’d let you. I just told you I’m in love with you. I wanna be right next to you all the time.”</p><p>He wraps his arms around Langa and lets out a content sigh when he feels Langa do the same, his fingers carding through his hair softly. He holds him a little closer just because he can, and thinks that he could stay like this forever, just hugging him.</p><p>When he pulls back, Langa is slightly blushing, and Reki grins. “Also, I should probably tell you, but I think we’re soulmates.”</p><p>Langa raises his eyebrows, a brief look of surprise crossing his face, but then he starts smiling. Reki pouts. All this tension, only to get a reaction like that? “I thought you would be a little more surprised.”</p><p>“I mean, it kinda makes sense. My soulmate makes me happy. And you make me happy as well. It would explain why I’ve always felt so good around you from the beginning, and why it felt so natural. I’m glad it’s you. I wasn't... I wasn't in the best place when I came here, because I thought I lost the only thing connecting me to my father when I lost snowboarding. But then you introduced me to skateboard, and I felt like I could find the same sensations once again. So thank you for showing me skateboarding. And thank you for everything else. You’re amazing, Reki.”</p><p>To his horror, Reki feels his cheeks getting hotter. He doesn’t have to see his face to know he must be a deep tomato-red right now. It’s not his fault, okay, he’s not used to compliments!</p><p>“You could warn me before saying that kind of thing!” he protests weakly.</p><p>“Really?”</p><p>“No, don’t actually do that, it’s nicer to hear when I’m not expecting it.”</p><p>He sighs, the smile not leaving his lips.</p><p>He finally found it. The person he’d been looking for all this time. He’s never going to be alone from now on.</p><p>“Can I kiss you?”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>heyo I hope you liked it and thank you so much for reading!! don't forget to stay hydrated mwah<br/>my twitter is @moonaslan!!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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